HD Ratings: Schapelle Gets Early Release on DVD

The Aussie telemovie dramatising the arrest and trial of Schapelle Corby can be bought on DVD from Friday.

Schapelle’s release comes barely a week after its Thursday HD broadcast drew 247,150 viewers.

While it won its slot with viewers aged five-plus (5.9%), it couldn’t beat Arrow on TV2 in the key demographics (adults 18-39, 18-49, 25-534, household shoppers with kids).

Schapelle averaged 4.2% – 6.9% of these demos and was most popular with HHS. It also drew about twice as many female viewers as male, and was up sharply on the previous week’s Doc Martin (2.0% – 5.5%).

Arrow, meanwhile, won the 8.30 hour with 5.2% – 10.4%, but couldn’t rate higher than 6.8% except with HHS.

Even so, it was a couple of points ahead of HD rival CSI in the age demos and had a 6.5-point lead among HHS.

The long-in-the-tooth procedural wasn’t helped by a soft lead-in, with the premiere of Cadbury Dream Factory averaging only 3.7% – 4.4% of the key demos against TV2’s 2-3 times as popular Police Ten-7 and Motorway Patrol.

But it did out-rate TV One’s George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces (2.7% – 5.9%) in the 18-39 demo and was competitive with adults 18-49.

At 9.30, TV3’s new HD documentary series, Hens Behaving Badly, didn’t prove as irresistible as its title, drawing only 2.7% – 3.9%.

It was largely beaten by TV2’s 20/20 (3.8% – 5.1%) and the second half of Schapelle.

Interest in 20/20 lead-out The Originals has quickly waned, with the second episode averaging 1.8% – 2.8% compared to 2.9% – 4.5% for the first.

The peak-hour HD channel ratings and shares were:

• Adults 18-49: TV One, 5.2 rating/20.5 share; TV2, 7.5 rating/29.6 share; TV3, 4.5 rating/17.6 share
• Adults 18-39:  TV One, 4.5 rating/18.7 share; TV2, 7.4 rating/30.7 share; TV3, 4.6 rating/18.9 share
• Adults 25-54: TV One, 6.6 rating/23.2 share; TV2, 7.2 rating/25.4 share; TV3, 5.5 rating/19.4 share
• HHS: TV One, 6.9 rating/21.3 share; TV2, 11.5 rating/35.4 share; TV3, 6.5 rating/19.8 share.